A shy hero

By Cory Doctorow at 12:11 pm Sunday, Feb 3

A shy hero. It's not often that the hair on the back of my neck actually stands up while I'm reading a news account, but it just did. This LA Times story chronicles the life of Marion Pritchard, an octogenarian resident of Vermont who spent the war in Holland rescuing Jewish children from the Nazis. She's lived most of her life since as a family woman in rural Vermont, but she "came out" as a hero when some Vermonters started campaigning against same-sex marriage:

Eventually, as she feared, the anti-gay rhetoric spawned something darker. Swastikas began to appear all around her, on lawns and mailboxes and the elementary school across the street from her office. She couldn't keep quiet any longer.

In a letter to the local newspaper, Pritchard gave Vermonters a stern history lesson, reminding them that Hitler began by persecuting everyone "different." Then she hammered signs into her front yard, supporting candidates friendly to gay rights.

One night her phone rang. A menacing voice told Pritchard to take down her signs "or you'll be sorry."

Discuss Link (via Electrolite)